The Weekend That Gay Marriage Became Legal


William Hogarth [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons
Saturday 29th March 2014 saw
the first gay weddings in England and Wales, and having enjoyed the build up to equal
marriage, we have to ask:

 What now?



So, cake and confetti-less, we’re struggling a bit this Wednesday, but we’ve decided to banish those start-of-the-week blues and re-live some of the magic of last weekend.

If you were too busy celebrating, playing in the sunshine or enjoying Mother's Day,  then here are some things you might have missed.


  • London played host to a number of events; the biggest was Stonewall’s party at G-A-Y. Ben & Jerry’s were there, too, celebrating with new ice cream flavour ‘Appely Ever After’. Which sounds amazing by the way if anyone wants to send any to Pink Towers…

  • The rainbow flag was flying over Westminster on Saturday. Its multi-coloured pennant, symbolic of the gay rights movements, flew proudly over the cabinet office: the very heart of Government.

  •  Coinciding with the weekend’s events, a BBC 5 live survey reported that 1 in 5 British adults would turn down an invitation to a gay wedding. This was seized upon by opponents to equal marriage as indication that support was widely exaggerated. Stonewall, rather beautifully, suggested that by the same statistic 4 out of 5 adults would accept an invitation.

  •  On Saturday, broadcaster Sandi Toksvig was at the Royal Festival Hall in London to renew her vows to civil partner Debbie. The ceremony was well attended by the public and was accompanied by songs from the London Gay Men’s Chorus.

  • There were marriages, quite literally, moments after the law came into effect. The BBC reported that one of the first couples to say “I do” was Peter McGraith and David Cabreza, whose ceremony coincided with midnight. Married at Islington Town Hall, Peter and David have been partners for 17 years. Inside, they were surrounded by family and friends; outside, they were met by crowds of well-wishers and photographers.

  • Not everyone was happy, however. In a wonderfully melodramic comparison to 1984, Sir Roger Gale was quoted in the Daily Mirror as saying:

"It is Alice in Wonderland territory, Orwellian almost, for any government of any political persuasion to seek to come along and try to re-write the lexicon. It will not do."



And speaking of people whose weekend was ruined by equal marriage becoming law...

  • David Silvester may well have evacuated himself to higher ground on Saturday. The UKIP Councillor had previously blamed the legalization of gay marriage for the recent flooding in the UK. Fortunately, Saturday was glorious sunshine.

We'd love to hear about what you were up to this weekend. 

 We'd also like you to check out our main site PinkWeddingDays.co.uk where you'll find all manner of pink friendly wedding venues and services. 

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